Material in the form of a web is used in many types of automatic packaging equipment. For example, in packaging cigarettes, a web of aluminum foil is supplied to the packaging equipment from a reel on which the web is spooled. Conventionally, primary web from a primary reel is unspooled and fed to delivery rollers associated with the packaging equipment. Eventually, the primary reel will be exhausted; and in preparation for this, a replacement reel is made ready for use by manually feeding the leading end of the replacement web through a conveying passage whose exit is adjacent the delivery rollers. When the primary reel is exhausted, the leading end of the replacement web is fed, manually, to the delivery rollers; and operation of the packaging line continues.
In addition to the problem of having to manually intercede in the operation of an automatic packaging device to introduce a replacement web into the automatic packaging equipment, the increased speed of such equipment results in frequent manual intercession. This increases the probability of improper replacement, and is thus not desirable in terms of either productivity or quality control.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus for improving the working efficiency of automatic packaging equipment by providing apparatus for automatically threading the leading end of a replacement web through a conveying passage and into operative relationship with delivery rollers thus eliminating the need for manual intercession in an otherwise automatic operation.